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EDITORIALS 18
Atlanta and Housing
MAYOR IVAN Allen’s effort to replace 17,008
slum housing units with good low - cost
units has run into near - sightedness in the
Board of Aldermen.
It also is being mired in old discriminatory
practices by construction, sales, rental and
lending institutions in the housing field. More
and more it is becoming evident that Atlanta
must tackle its housing problems as a whole.
If nothing else indicates that, then what is
happening in Milwaukee should. Milwaukee is
having demonstrations, which sometimes are
breaking into violence, because it has not
faced up to housing discrimination. Louisville
not long ago had a serious period of deadlock
and unrest for the same reason. Atlanta can-
not avoid this unless it faces the problem.
me * *
THE MAYOR’S “CRASH” program on
housing is directed not toward the discrimina-
tion problem but simply toward the shortage
of units. Giving this No. 1 priority in the
city’s affairs last November, he set a goal
of 16,800 low-cost units by 1971. Within that
goal was an interim target of 9,800 units dur-
ing 1967 and 1968.
At first the response appeared to be good.
By May, the mayor’s Housing Resources Com-
mittee reported that 7,264 units were “in
sight,” with more than half of these in the
“firm” category and the rest marked “prob-
able.”
ae * *
BUT EVEN THEN THE housing committee
was cautious. It said that there was “little
reason to assume an optimistic attitude toward
future efforts,” and added: ‘‘At this time com-
binations of federal policies, zoning problems,
land costs, code requirements and general un-
certainty pertaining to the program have se- |
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